UFC 116 Postmortem: Lesnar’s Rank Secured, Leben Hits a Double

Calling a bout between two super-heavyweights Fight of the Year
material used to be the set-up to a punch line. Being big and
athletic meant heading for the NFL; never moving past varsity
football and lacking self-preservation meant a stint in Japan or in
one of the minor leagues, where promoters expected a solid 30
seconds of action before your lungs shut down. If they got 40,
maybe you’d get a bonus.

In terms of an overall MMA game, no one is going to confuse
Brock
Lesnar or Shane
Carwin for B.J. Penn. But
part of fighting is tailoring your abilities to what your body does
best. For Carwin, it was smashing; for Lesnar, it’s being a
Division 1 wrestler with a gas tank, tremendous power and a mean
streak.

Was their meeting Saturday a 101 in the game? No. But Lesnar’s
unbelievable attrition and the emotional element -- so many people
are invested in Lesnar’s results -- made it the most compelling
fight of the year.

It was an education. Lesnar, always the hammer, could be the nail
without giving up: he doesn’t suffer from demoralization after
adversity, which is rare in an athlete who usually enjoys the
advantage. He’s developing a submission game that’s tailored to the
positional control he forces. And it may take a baseball bat soaked
in concrete to knock him out.

Carwin’s scorecard was less flattering. Despite constant claims
from his camp that he could go five hard rounds with no problem, he
was the walking dead going into round two. (Carwin might be hitting
15 rounds in training, but it’s irrelevant: nothing prepares you
for the emotional vacuum of a live fight.) He was unable to
conserve either his attack on Lesnar or his energy. He came within
seconds of stopping him, but it’s Lesnar who will get the credit
for surviving. “Came close” isn’t a notation on a fight record.

Lesnar’s comeback was a fitting end to a night that seemed to be
all about will and heart over technique and playing for points.
Stephan
Bonnar, in danger of dropping four straight, had a palpable
desperation he used to finish off Krzysztof
Soszynski; Chris Leben,
only two weeks removed from a big win, took out a guy above his pay
grade in Yoshihiro
Akiyama. Everyone bled and everyone was smiling. If that
doesn’t sum up the sport of mixed martial arts, I don’t know what
would.

The winners were all pleased, obviously -- but it was Lesnar who
seemed downright content. Much has been made of his seemingly short
attention span, how he jumped from pro wrestling to pro football
tryouts to fighting, and whether he won’t soon get bored with his
latest interest. But you’ve never seen a man more at peace with
getting beaten up.

"If it was legal and I wouldn't get in trouble, I'd pick a fight on
every street,” he told ESPN.com in 2004, three years before his
debut. “If I wouldn't lose any money or nothing, I would fight. I'd
fight every day." It’s legal, he’s not losing any money, and he’s
getting into it every day in the gym. No wonder the guy is
smiling.

Next for Lesnar:Cain
Velasquez, who is going to bring more technical hands than
Carwin’s with the cardio to back them up.

The Avoiding Good Taste AwardSeth
Petruzelli, for plotting to appear at both the weigh-ins and
the fight sporting a little person in his entourage. In addition to
being lame in a way only Larry the Cable Guy could imagine, it’s a
foot too far into circus territory. Whoever killed the idea should
get a bonus.

The Coleman Award Akiyama, for
attempting a can opener submission on Leben, a move that has only
worked when you’re a 240-pound wrestler who can bench a Honda
fighting a kickboxer.

The Wait, What? Award Lesnar,
Submission of the Night recipient.

New Questions: UFC 116

How big can Lesnar get?

Good fighters are not necessarily good draws, and good draws aren’t
necessarily good fighters. When you find an athlete who can manage
both, it’s the next best thing to a winning lotto ticket.

Brock
Lesnar invited record business from the start, but his stellar
comeback performance at UFC 116 -- rebounding from a violent
beating in round one to squeeze the fight out of Carwin in round
two -- is the kind of footage that sells seats, DVDs, and protein
powder. Lesnar has moved beyond a novelty act: instead of drumming
attention for being an ornery celebrity, he’s establishing a shot
at a real heavyweight legacy, which is the kind of sports story
that captures attention beyond the norm. Bud Light sponsored Carwin
as a jab; a year from now, they might be casting Lesnar.

Is Carwin going to rebound?

Carwin might be the second-toughest man in the division, but he’ll
have to prove it in a return bid. With Cain
Velasquez and Junior dos
Santos (or, less likely, Roy Nelson)
on tap for Lesnar, Carwin will have to win at least two bouts to
get back into contention. In the pro column: Lesnar might be the
only fighter with the skull density to handle his attack. The con:
if opponents can figure out a way to survive, they know Carwin
becomes a coin flip after the five-minute mark. If both men
continue to win, Lesnar/Carwin II has a shot at being the biggest
fight in the sport to date -- providing Carwin gets over his
doctor-with-bad-news disposition in front of cameras.

Is there any question Lesnar is the number one
heavyweight?

This one’s rhetorical: there isn’t.

Lesnar, only 5-1 to date, doesn’t have the years or ring experience
of longstanding names in the division. But rankings, frequently
frustrating to compile and debate, depend largely on your results
in a contemporary setting: Lesnar has battered two ex-champions and
erased the undefeated streak of a third in just over two years.
While Fedor
Emelianenko still has the more accomplished career, his recent
victories -- fading punchers Andrei
Arlovski, Tim Sylvia,
and Brett
Rogers -- don’t stack up to Couture, Mir, and Carwin. Lesnar’s
all-time place is still unfolding, but as of July 2010, he’s on
top.

Should the Nevada commission have hosted
Leben?

Lost in the shuffle of Leben’s impressive two-week stretch of
competition: a fighter who absorbed 56 strikes (according to
Compustrike) against Aaron
Simpson might not be the best candidate to fight again only 14
days later.

Sequential fighting was a staple of 1990s MMA, which had some
athletes fighting four times in an evening. Fortunately for them,
prelim bouts were frequently shark/fish matches, and some elite
fighters weren’t as dangerous as today’s. A few will find fault
with Leben’s quick turnaround; no one would find fault in letting
him rest.

Etc.

Not that it makes much difference for an athlete earning seven
figures, but Lesnar took home an additional $75,000 for Submission
of the Night Saturday over Carwin. There was some discussion the
bonus should have gone to Chris Lytle,
but Lesnar opening up his game was the bigger shock; Leben,
Akiyama, Soszynski, and Bonnar
got the same check cut for Fights of the Night…Carwin told
MMAJunkie.com that he “felt” Lesnar go out “a few times” during his
drill-press pounding in the first round. Unless rigor mortis set in
to keep his arms up, that seems unlikely…UFC president Dana White
said George
Sotiropoulos has propelled himself into the title hunt with a
win over Kurt
Pellegrino. Sotiropoulos hasn’t lost in four years: if Penn
recaptures his title in August, he’s going to need Sotiropoulos to
keep it up. There’s no one left for Penn to fight…Spike, the basic
cable home of the UFC, has put a series titled “Knockout World” in
heavy rotation featuring cheap fight footage. Forrest
Griffin getting KOed by Jeremy Horn
from years back might not fit the UFC’s promotional plans.
Someone’s phone is ringing.